Ashley Judd hopes her mother Naomi Judd was able to let go of any parenting guilt when she passed away in April.
The Double Jeopardy actress explained in an interview that she has long forgiven The Judds singer for any shortcomings she had as a parent and hopes Naomi was able to let go of any guilt she felt when she died on 30 April aged 76.
“My most ardent wish for my mother is that when she transitioned, she was hopefully able to let go of any guilt or shame that she carried for any shortcomings she may have had in her parenting of my sister and me,” she told grief expert David Kessler on his Healing with David Kessler podcast on Tuesday. “Because, certainly on my end, all was forgiven long ago.”
Announcing her death, Ashley and her half-sister Wynonna attributed Naomi’s passing “to the disease of mental illness”, and the actress later confirmed her mother took her own life.
During the new interview, Ashley, 54, explained that she learned over the years that she wasn’t to blame for her mother’s illness and she couldn’t “control it” or “cure it”.
As an adult, she understands that Naomi was “in pain” and doing the “best that she could” as a parent.
“I look back at my childhood, and I realise I grew up with a mom who had an undiagnosed and untreated mental illness,” she shared. “And there are different behavioural expressions, interactions, flights of fancy, you know, choices that she made that I understand were an expression of the disease.
“I understand that and know that she was in pain, and (I) can today understand that she was absolutely doing the best that she could. And if she could have done it differently, she would have.”